Hi. We are a design/style LA based company specializing in mixing eclectic styles on moderate budgets. Also we have a strange amount of fun blogging about all our design and style adventures. Right now I’m happy to say that I’m Target’s home spokesperson, bringing accessible/stylish design to the masses.

No More Worrying About Spills At Your Next Party...

A Modern and Organic Dining Room Makeover

Yesterday we revealed the living room of my friend’s home, and today we are on to the Dining Room. With the way that the house is designed and the layout of the space, this is one of the very first rooms that you see coming into the house from the front door and it also opens up into the kitchen and the adjacent family room/tv room. We wanted something formal because the house has a lot of serious architecture, so something eclectic would feel weird. But as someone who is the #1 proponent of comfort these days, we really wanted to make sure that it felt soft and comfortable.

When we started to design this room, Corbett already had the lighting fixture and the table which were beautiful pieces. Lucky us. So our goal was to bring in a sense of personality, warmth, and femininity to the space. The hard lines and concrete needed to be softened, and with so much wood and gray, we could use a small dose of America’s new neutral – blush.

We found these beautiful chairs from Verellen and covered them using Crypton’s stain-resistant fabric, and we think they are pretty darn perfect. A bit of a backstory, originally they had some stunning Paul McCobb metal and wicker chairs that were cool but also NOT comfortable or practical for a growing family of 5. Plus they were 50 years old and falling apart, but most importantly nobody ever sat in them which meant nobody ever sat in this room.

We looked through quite a few chair options but ended up landing on these for a few different reasons (in no particular order). 1) Scale: the scale of the room, table, light fixture, and space are large. Big table, big room = big chairs. A smaller chair or something that didn’t have a bit of visual weight to it would have looked bitsy and accidental. 2) Comfort: as mentioned before, the family eats here every day and since they have 2 babies they are having more people over than usual. Not only do these have a bit of cushion to them, but also have a high back and a bit of a raised edge – all which make them EXTREMELY comfortable to sit in. Which you know I appreciate when I get invited to said entertaining/parties. 3) Style: the space can feel cold and stark due to the modern architecture, cement floors and hard lines. So we needed to bring something in that felt soft, inviting and had a bit of a curve without being a total contrast to what was already going on in the room. The lines on these chairs hit all of those boxes and the fabric which is a super soft blush pink from Crypton brought in that feminine touch. And last but not least 4) Durability: no matter how well behaved you or your kids are, spills will happen. So the fabric that covered the chairs had to be something that could not only resist wear and tear but also resist stains from food spills and wet-bottomed kids and adults that come in directly from the pool.

Let’s talk about that fabric for a bit. As you know, I’ve had Crypton on my dining chairs for over a year now and, although they did reach out about working together, it was only after I had used, abused and tested that fabric every single day (with two messy kids). Crypton is stain resistant and much more durable like an outdoor fabric is, and yet IS a soft indoor upholstery fabric.

We picked a beautiful blush (similar found online here) for the chair fabric which looks like an open-weave linen but is stain resistant. If you missed the before and after pics of our dining room chairs from yesterday then click through here to see the proof. We have LOVED it, but remember stains don’t magically float away – you still have to apply a wet rag and dab/rub to remove. But it’s super easy. Even if you are the cleanest person in the world – spills, messes, and life will happen and for those times you will be grateful that you can simply wipe it away or easily spot clean it with their simple recommended method. But basically it just requires a bit of water, detergent and a little scrubbing and your chairs look as good as new.

Once we had the main pieces in it became time to accessorize the space. Corbett had been collecting seascapes for a while and it was time to showcase them. Some were framed, some weren’t and there just wasn’t enough of them. Luckily I had 3 collecting dust in my garage and once we brought them over and saw them together we felt that the vintage/antique vibe of them made the space more interesting. My first thought was to do two large-scale pieces of modern art, and while that could have looked GREAT it also could have looked cold and hotel-y. And these people aren’t cold.

We started playing around with them on the floor creating a layout but most of them were unframed and the entire collection started to feel a bit thrifted and not as high-end as we needed it to feel for a house like this. Could the unframed collection work in another house? Absolutely, but this house needed to have a high-impact moment and framing all of them to create a cohesive yet curated collection is what the wall and art needed. We took out anything that felt too bright from the collection and also kept it pretty tonal and moody to again help it feel more high-end and less “eclectic and funky”. I let her “borrow” a few of my seascapes (and we all know that I will never be getting those back), but I love this collection so much and can give it much more appreciation and love on her wall than I could to the pieces while they were in storage.

Up on the table we continued the “collection” theme and brought in these pieces for the shoot from Sheldon Ceramics. He is a local ceramicist here in LA that makes really beautiful and simple pieces that we knew would create a lovely tablescape for the shoot. A quick tip when it comes to styling large spaces like the table or the wall behind it. Consider using collections of items that all work well together and visually create one unified “moment” versus a bunch of different things that could end up looking chaotic and messy. It all depends on the vibe that you want; we wanted modern but interesting, so keeping it simple with multiples of the same object made it high impact in a quiet way.

By keeping this collection in a tonal palette (just like we did with the seascapes) we were able to bring that high-impact moment to the table without trying to futz around with a bunch of different objects that would compete with each other.

Although this could work well in a home, this tablescape won’t make it in their home due to the fact that “6 under the age of 5” hands were going to be around that table and a collection of handmade ceramics is not exactly the MOST kid-friendly option. So for everyday life we removed all of the smaller pieces and instead kept one large piece for them to have on the table.

Over on the built-in credenza, we kept the styling very simple, again so as not to clutter the space, and created a collection of ceramics on the left that helped echo the moments happening on the table and in the little bar area on the right. They REALLY like pottery 🙂

The modern vessels help to contrast with the more antique-y prints while still being similar enough to the items on the table so it doesn’t feel like we were introducing another contrasting moment into the room. This is a good tip to keep in mind when you have large open spaces like this. A few collections, even if they are placed around the room, will feel cohesive and calm as long as they are tonally and visually similar enough.

On the opposite side we brought in this lamp from Rejuvenation which helped to bring some height to the other side of the credenza; it also echoed the dark metal on the legs of the chairs. And it added some much needed eye-level light to the space as the only other light in the room was the overhead lighting.

We framed the remaining seascapes over the weekend at a place in the valley that charged $20 – $80 each, which is CRAZY CHEAP. In a perfect world, they would be more eclectic and high end, but man was that a good last minute solution.

The space now feels warm, inviting, and comfortable, all while retaining that modern and high-end quality that the house needed. I KNOW you have a million questions about the kitchen and that beautiful wood. We’ll get to all of that, but know that Corbs had an amazing vision that she executed so well. I can’t wait to show you more (and yes, it has been a huge inspiration to me as well).

If you are into the look then here are most of the pieces all rounded up for you.

Thanks to Domino and Crypton for partnering on this post and Brady for helping style and execute the design. All photos by Sara Tramp for EHD.

I have an indoor/outdoor rug from Dash and Albert that I use under my dining table… I have 4 kids (ages 1-9) and it works like a charm. EVERYTHING comes out of it. Every once in a while I take it outside and hose it off. I too have polished concrete floors and I feel it helps soften or cozy up the space.

I would have loved to see one picture at the end with the room as it is used (i.e., without things that would last 30 sec with little hands around)… just to see if it is really possible to have a space on a random Tuesday.

Same…anytime she (or any other blogger) mentions that something was just for the shoot, I always want to see at least one shot of the “every day.” It kind of relates to the notion that we look at pictures and try to emulate, and then feel kind of inadequate, even if just subconsciously, that we can’t live like that, too. So, it would be nice the see the real deal.

Hey guys, styled for everyday life would be the same except the table would be empty. We left that huge glass vessel from the kitchen island with branches as the centerpiece on the dining table but even that I’m not sure they would keep on an every day basis. The back wall would remain the same, but the table would likely just be empty because they use it all day every day.

Great job Emily, as always! It’s not my personal style, as the hard lines and the different wood types on the table and the cabinets are a little bit too much for me (I’m a girly girl ;-), but I’m sure it looks calm and warm in person! I love the last minute art solution and the beautiful accessories. Your friends’ house is incredible. I keep going back to yesterday’s picture with the view from the balcony, OMG!

I also feel like the living room and dining room were designed by two different people, but I much prefer the dining room. I think it’s gorgeous! Some of your best work in awhile. It’s clean, modern, balanced, with a bit of vintage. Good work on this one!

I LOVE this–and that pendant light is what caught me right away. Previous commenter said this doesn’t look designed by the same person as the living room, but I disagree. Many of us have rooms that are more formal and rooms that are less formal, and this dining room just feels more formal than the living. I love both of them SO much even though I don’t have much of these styles in my own home. BEAUTIFUL job.

We have polished concrete floors in our condo. We moved in when our son was 2.5 and have never had a problem. He even accidentally wrote on them in Sharpie and it came right up!! Best remodeling decision we made!!

What’s the name of the place in the Valley that did such affordable framing? I have a bunch of stuff waiting to be framed and have been looking for a local, affordable option (rather than ship to an online site).

Absolutely gorgeous! I was glad to hear that they’re using this table everyday. I’m looking for a wood table for our modern house, and was afraid that the wood is going to stain, get chips, etc. Also have two kids. Can you comment on how the wood surface of the table is holding up to everyday use?

This room, this house, everything about it is perfection. I was so excited yesterday when I saw the full reveal and my excitement continues today. Your friend has such incredible taste and everything is done in such a subtle yet beautiful way. I love the vintage that you brought into the modern house and the touch of blush pink brings just the right amount of color in. I hope there is more coming from this house very soon.

Ok, I’ll try my comment again. I like a lot about this room (the living room yesterday is my favorite out of the two) I love the table, the wood on the walls and cabinets. I love the seascapes, the style/shape of the chairs and I especially love that chandelier. I’m not a big of a fan of the chair colour but I’m sure it goes nicely with everything else in the space.

Love the room, but my money is on the seascapes being ousted by year end. They are too dark and heavy when combined with the wood walls and credenza. Bring in art that is more light and soft, like the chairs, or more colourful. Overall, the room is stunning but the art is less so.

This is one of those styles of house with the clean lines, wood, concrete and black and gold accents that I would never pinpoint as my personal style but then I see something like this and I’m like ‘a house just like that, please.’ I mean that kitchen? Come on.

Wow! I‘m not a big fan of blush pink but it looks fabulous with that wood. I like the seascapes but unfortunately I can‘t see past their frames! As a single element they look great but I have a funny dislike of pink and yellow in the same room…. Perhaps I’d find it less jarring if there was some more pink dotted around the room? Otherwise absolutely gorgeous wood with the pink.

I love the chairs, and I like the seascape collection fine, but with those two elements together I’m not loving the color palette. All the walnut doesn’t help the palette either, though of course the wood and the cabinets are amazing.

Another gorgeous room in this house. I don’t have kids, but my current white couch has just about had it and the next one is going to be Crypton. Is it embarrassing that I recognize the large seascape from Emily’s bedroom? I think I’m studying all of this a little too hard. My imaginary career is as a stylist. 🙂

I really like the light fixture, and the whole set up in general, but the way the edge chairs straddle the table leg in most of the photos would really irk me. I feel like I would definitely find a way to damage by shin with it, but then again I’m not the most graceful either.

I am totally digging this project!!! I don’t think there’s a thing I would change if I lived there myself, and I am basically the pickiest damn person ever. That light over the dining room table is just fantastic.

This house is really the bees knees. And I love that it’s design is rooted in a 10 year friendship. I vaguely recall Corbett had a super styled out lucite crib from years ago, or maybe I’m imagining things?

That lighting! That table! Wow! My only thought on the dining room is that the wall of vintage sea scales seems a little too thrift and doesnt seem to totally go, but I was thinking that if there’d been a few more pulled back shots that it wouldn’t have seemed so discontinuous? I suspend because the building is so modern it adds a little organic earthiness the way the block shop/m. Quan does in the living room, I dunno?

omg are those leather pulls on the cabinets?!?!?!!?! STUNNING!! Like everyone else I am obsessed with the wood- and with the concrete and leather pulls- I am dying inside to join said dinner party with you and Corbett (can that be part of the vacay giveaway too?!). You have really pulled together all my favorite organic touches in a super cool, modern way- with some coziness too! Great job!

That table + chair + light fixture combo is spot on! I LOVE each piece, and (I agree) their scale fills up the space well.

But, I’m undecided on the seascape wall and can’t figure out why I don’t totally love it.. I understand how the modern art you mentioned could’ve felt “cold and hotel-y,” but this doesn’t feel quite right either.

Regardless, this house if beautiful, and the owners are lucky to have you to style it!

Hello!

Emily is a stylist, author and T.V. host with a strong commitment to vintage inspired approachable home style for every single person. Perfection is boring; Let’s get weird. learn more

Interior Design Blog by Emily Henderson

I started this interior design blog in 2010 as a journal of my style and home projects with the belief that design should be approachable, informational and accessible no matter what budget.

As a home style expert who has a strong commitment to peeling back the intimidating layers of the world of home decor, and showing how every person can have a beautiful home that represents their personality, no matter what the budget.

After styling for magazines and catalogues for years, I started my own interior design blog, won HGTV Design Star, and have gone on to host my own hit TV show Secrets from a Stylist, Author the book STYLED, and create the design firm Emily Henderson Design.

My motto has always been to write and publish on my blog what I personally want to read about.